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House Tlannic (non-canon)
Native to Malignatius , House Tlannic has spread to a number of worlds, achieving some success at the expense of any unity. In the Second Republic, the arctic regions of frigid Malignatius were colonized by an extremely hardy group of settlers known as the Gulkans. Possessed of an almost superhuman resistance to the cold, they were still battered heavily by the harsh weather and frost. They made warrens in the ice and live fairly comfortably until the Fall. When the great ice-burrows were bereft of supplies by the Second Republic, massive distrust and unrest split the population, only averted when a sudden blizzard forced the entire community to band together under the leadership of the legendary Arvald Tlannic, a competent leader who personally led the necessary repairs and work to stop the entire complex from losing power and becoming an icy tomb. The success of this effort led to Tlannic’s coming to lead the community, and this struggle has become mythologized as an epic battle against the ice-demons. Since then, the descendants of Arvald Tlannic have been seen as having a divine mandate to safeguard the Gulkan people. For centuries House Tlannic clung to its icy burrows, fighting off Changed scavengers from competing nearby settlements, as well as the dreadful Frost Boars and Grisigiants, and praying heartily to the Pancreator for deliverance. Finally, an invasion by a scouting party of Li Halan broke House Tlannic out of its isolation, and, tentatively allying with the Li Halan, the House began to spread and expand meteorically throughout the Known Worlds. The Gulkans, huge and resilient, were excellent fighters, and they found their support in demand on a thousand little battlefields. They, for their part, welcomed the warm weather and the glory, and soon worlds from Stigmata to Sutek were overrun with Tlannic. However, with the expansion came a dissolution of the House’s sense of unity and discipline. Many Tlannic ran wild in what they saw as divinely-warm Promised Lands, and threw the traditional House counsels of prudence to the winds, launching great wars of conquest with impunity. This brief giddy honeymoon lasted only about as long as it took the Ten to notice this new threat to their holdings and their allies. The Tlannic were scattered and butchered with impunity until the elders of House Tlannic prudently attached themselves to House Van Gelder and started curbing their wild younger members. In effort both to gain legitimacy among the established houses and to consolidate authority within the house, Grand Sovereign Arvald XXI declared that the Tlannic’s mission was to combat the demons spawned in the cold darkness between the stars, even as Arvald I had done. Though the house was still quite scattered and unruly, this move was mostly successful, and since then House Tlannic has been seen as a house of religious fanatics, to varying degrees of accuracy. When the Van Gelder fell from greatness, House Tlannic severed its ties with them, striking out on its own. Now it is spread throughout many of the Known Worlds. Traditionalists stake out their claims to icy areas with arctic climates, and they find themselves rather well-suited to do so. Breakoff branches haunt all manner of remote areas. The greatest constant is a penchant for isolation and unforgivingness in their terrain- jungles, tundras, mountain crags, tiny barren islands, occasionally deserts, and more all make good homes for nobles of House Tlannic. Those Tlannic who mingle in great population centers are either seen as great degenerates by their house or consider themselves on a mission to purge the area of the demons lurking within their midst. The Tlannic coat of arms is a Frost Boar with three torches. The Tlannic colors are black, brown, gray and white. Mainstream Tlannic lords are likely to be reclusive barons who police their fiefs for evils with scrupulous determination, occasionally declaring religious war on their neighbors. Less traditionalist Tlannic lords are still mostly reclusive, but also have a great acquisitive streak, and love to go to war for spoils even as they hate to fight when they do not stand to win anything. The greatest exception to this pragmatism is when set in opposition to religious enemies. Tlannic lords are often great allies to the Ordo Adepti. With some cross-bred exceptions, Tlannic nobles are exclusively of Gulkan stock. The Gulkans are physically huge and tend toward plumpness, with wide, flat, and squarish faces with flat ears. They have short, stubby, but rather nimble fingers, and incongruous little button noses. They usually have red, blond, or silvery-white hair, which tends to be thick and extremely curly, and deep dark gray-green eyes. Their skin is quite pale white but curiously tough and resistant to sunburn. Tlannic knights prefer weapons which make the best use of their great strength, such as two-handed swords, axes, and warhammers, though they are sensitive to the realities of shielded combat, and those who make a point of fighting nobles use bastard swords and sabers of various weights. Traditional Tlannic all carry a vial of sacred tlaga-oil and a tinder-box, along with a small knife, extremely sharp and wickedly-serrated on one side. This knife, known as a grisgrim, is traditionally used to deliver the final blow to demonic foes and to cut off the head. Such foes are then burned with the tlaga-oil. This ritual, known as the lefcormat, is thought to purify the body and the ground and cleanse it of the taint. Category:Minor Houses